Gartner: Windows XP Migration Lessens Worldwide Q1 PC Shipment Drop, Helps Boost U.S. Numbers

Worldwide PC shipments declined 1.7 percent in the first quarter of 2014 but would have slipped even further if there wasn't a rush to upgrade systems as Microsoft ended support of its Windows XP operating system.

Research firm Gartner Wednesday said worldwide first-quarter 2014 PC shipments fell 1.7 percent compared with the first quarter of 2013, coming in at 76.6 million units.

However, U.S. PC shipments rose 2.1 percent to 14.1 million units, Gartner said.

[Related: Gartner Q4 Server Shipment Data: HP Beats Dell Again]

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Gartner's definition of PCs includes desktop and laptop PCs as well as x86-based tablets running Windows 8, but not Chromebooks or other tablets.

In the U.S., Hewlett-Packard was No. 1, shipping 3.6 million units, which was up 1.8 percent over last year.

Dell, however, threatened HP's dominance with sales of 3.4 million units, up 13.2 percent over last year.

Apple was the No. 3 supplier at 1.5 million units, down 3.8 percent, as that company's product line continues a shift toward mobile devices.

Lenovo, with sales of 1.5 million units, was the fourth-largest PC vendor in the U.S. The company also is the fastest growing of the top vendors with what Gartner estimated as a 16.8 percent growth rate.

Rounding out the top five was Toshiba, which Gartner estimated sold 1.2 million units, down 7.0 percent over last year.

Worldwide PC shipments, however, told a different story.

Lenovo was the top PC vendor worldwide after shipping 12.9 million units, which was up 10.9 percent over last year's shipments, Gartner said.

That growth rate was enough to push Lenovo ahead of HP, which saw its worldwide PC shipments rise 4.1 percent to 12.2 million units.

Dell was third with 9.5 million units, up 9.0 percent over last year. It was followed by Acer which, with shipments of 5.6 million units, was the only one of the top five vendors to see sales drop. Asus rounded out the top five with shipments of 5.3 million units, up 4.8 percent over last year.

The 1.7 percent decline in PC shipments over last year was the lowest quarterly drop over the last seven quarters, said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner, in a statement.

NEXT: Refresh After Windows XP Support Ends Helped First-Quarter PC Sales

"The end of XP support by Microsoft on April 8 has played a role in the easing decline of PC shipments," Kitagawa said. "All regions indicated a positive effect since the end of XP support stimulated the PC refresh of XP systems. Professional desktops, in particular, showed strength in the quarter. ... We expect the impact of XP migration worldwide to continue throughout 2014."

Kitagawa also said in her statement that the U.S. is unusual in terms of its huge appetite for PCs.

"The U.S. PC market has been highly saturated with devices: 99 percent of households own at least one or more desktops or laptops, and more than half of them own both," she said. "While tablet penetration is expected to reach 50 percent in 2014, some consumer spending could return to PCs."

Tony Balistrieri, president of the western region of MCPc, a Cleveland-based solution provider and partner of Lenovo, Dell and HP on the PC side, said he was surprised to see worldwide PC shipments fall only 1.7 percent.

"I thought it would have fallen 10 percent or more thanks to the growth of sales of smartphones and tablets," Balistrieri said.

While MCPc is more focused on building data center infrastructures than on selling PCs, the company still sells a lot of laptops and desktops, Balistrieri said.

"But it's not a sustainable business over the long term," he said. "There's so much growth in sales of tablet PCs and smartphones. Now if I want, I can run Microsoft Office on my iPad. That's all I was missing personally. Now if I want, I can dump my MacBook Air."

PUBLISHED APRIL 9, 2014